Pipe crawler | Milling robots

Milling robots and manipulators can be deployed in all types of situations where grooves inside of pipe systems need to be ground down and where localised defects must be promptly removed.

The milling robots are able to accurately grind up to 1/10mm within a pipe section. They can be matched with the dimensions of the pipe line depending on intended use and can work on every point along a section of pipeline, when used in conjunction with the standard operational elements. INSPECTOR SYSTEMS robots are being used in a unique modernising of nuclear power stations. Thanks to the abilities of these robots many reactors can be maintained.

Areas of Use

There are two very important materials when it comes to pipe nozzles. They are Inconel 600 (the nozzle material) and SA508-69 (Safe-Ends). So that these two materials can be properly joined together, the appropriate welding cladding must be used. These welding claddings were developed some 15-20 years ago and no longer represent the cutting edge of welding technologies.

The solution

In order to over come the problems posed by this ageing technology, managers of boiling water reactors decided to apply a protective coating made of optimised welding material to the most important areas of the pipe networks.

So that the interior of the pipe section is ready to receive this protective cladding it is necessary for a groove with width of 60mm and a depth of 4.5mm to be milled out around the complete inner circumference of the pipe.

Grinding robots developed by INSPECTOR SYSTEMS can deal with this difficult job fast, reliably and, as one would expect considering the high number of safety considerations with in the nuclear power industries, without risk.